E --- 

^ POLICY or EMANCIPATION: 



IN THREE LETTERS 



THE SECKETARY OF WAR, 
THE PRKsTDrXT OF THE UNITED STATES, 

THE SECRETARY ol THE TREASURY. 



ROB Kin DMA'. OWKN, 

K.RMKRLT AMtH^'^i wiM,TrR n \ U-LIU. 



PniLADKLPlIIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT ct CO. 

1863. 







<E-^»^^^ "^ 



THE 



POLTCY OF E\rAXCTPATION: 



THE SKCRKTAHV (»K WAH, 
THi; I'HKSIUKNT < »K TIIK UNITKO STATES, 

Tin: SKCKKTAliV < »K TllK TKKAsLKV. 



BY 

iioiniM i) \L I. (i\\ i;.\, 

roaHKBtT AMCRUMTC MIMHTCR TO XAfLEM. 



I' M I L A I» K L P H I A : 

J. i;. 1. 1 IM' 1 Ncor r a- ro. 

1 ^t;;;. 



.0/fi 



i .^ 



^^^y-rr^ 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The three following letters were orig-inally published, 
the first and last in the ''New York Evening Post," and 
that to the President in the "New York Daily Tribune." 

They obtained, through the periodical press in all parts 
of the country, a wide circulation. Discussing, as they 
do, the great question of the day — a question on the true 
solution of which may depend the very life of the nation 
— it is believed that the public will welcome their publi- 
cation in a more permanent form. 



2 Fob 05 



r ^ 



Tin; i"()i,i( V 01 i;.\iA.\( H'ATiD.x 



THE WAV nV'W 



Li:'iTi:ii 1 



TO Tin; si:(i;r.T\in oi" wwi 



1* 



LETTKR 10 TIIK SECHHTAl^Y OF WAU 



Editorial from the New VorJc Kvr.s^sn Post of Au^ptst 8, 1862. 
A STimNi, \S.ii;i. IN M, \-nN. 

^VK liavr not jmhli-lud. >ince the boijinniiitr of tln' war. 
a inon* significant or prrsuasive docunimt than th«' follow- 
in*r Ictfrr of UniiKUT Dai.k Owkn to SccH'tarv 8tanti)n. 
Tin- stylr and tonr of it indicate tliat it was not intended 
for the public eye, havin^r Iwcfi sent some ten days ajro to 
the eniiin-m jiuhlic officer to whom it is addressed — an old 
fri«iid of Mr. Owen's of many years' standinp — in the nn- 
resirvt'd fncdom of j>rivate c<»rre«.|)on<lence ; hut coming 
hy chancr under the oh-rrvation of s«»veral pentlenien of 
this city, they solicited a copy of it from Mr. Owen for 
puhlication. He cheerfully complied with the retjuest, in 
tlie hope that his views iniLdit he u-eful to otlnTs. 

Mr. Owt-n L- well kimwii in thi- <ountry as a «rentleman 
on wiiom the democratic party ha-^ hitherto larirely h(»- 
slowed its confidence; he wa> for many years one of it< 

(7) 



8 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

representatives in Congress from the State of Indiana, 
subsequently our minister at the Neapolitan court, and is 
now the associate of Judge Holt in the investigation and 
settlement of complicated transactions of the government. 
In all his public trusts he has discharged his duties with 
fidelity, ability, and honor. A careful observer of men 
and things, accustomed to habits of impartial thought, he 
has studied the phenomena of our civil war without taking 
much active part in events, and the results of his studies 
we have in this brief letter to Mr. Stanton. Mr. Owen 
sees, what hundreds of other democrats had begun to see 
before him, that there can be no speedy, satisfactory or 
final termination of this war until slavery is, in some way 
or other, put in process of extinction. 

We are not autjiorized to speak for Mr. Stanton himself, 
nor for Judge Holt, nor for General Dix ; but if certain 
rumors that have come to us are not greatly exaggerated, 
we think we should not be far wrong in claiming for them 
a general concurrence in the reasonings of Mr. Owen. Be 
that as it may, we know that other leading democrats, no 
less eminent than these, have been brought, by the expe- 
riences of the past few months, to arrive at the same con- 
clusions. We know, for instance, that such men as Daniel 
S. Dickinson, Francis B. Cutting, ex-Governor Boutwell, 
Orestes A. Brownson, General Mitchel, General Hunter, 
General Lew. Wallace, General Rousseau, General Du- 



EDITORIAL. y 

nioiit, General Cochrane, and others of less note, make no 
o<»nceahneiit of tht-ir convirtioiis that tlie war must put an 
em I to slavery or slavery will put an end to the Union, 
'i'hes*' imn Were all democrats. Could the old conditions 
<»f jxtlitical j)arties be restored they would, doubtless, be 
(hiiKK-rats airain ; but they are not democrats who refuse 
to be tauj^ht by events, or wIkj, like the old Bourbons, 
mvi-r forget and never learn anything-. They see that the 
outbreak of a -lavrhuldcr-' war has changed essentially 
the relations of slavery to ih«» State, and tiiey guide their 
miml-, not by the ..Id parly traditions, or aeeurding to cir- 
cumstances which liavf f'Tcver pa>><d away, liut l»y the 
light of e.xisting events. 

W'e «»f the North can no «l»)ubt whip the rebels by arms; 
we can drive them out of Kiehmond into the cotton States; 
we ean piir-iie them through the thousand >wamp- of the 
cotton States into the (Juif ..f Mcxir.. ; it Would take time 
and money and life to do so ; liut we coulil do it all be- 
yond a pi'radventure. IJnt the l'nit>n wonM not !>«• thereby 
restored. The same elenn'nt.s of disconl wouhl still exist ; 
the same feuds would lireak out ; and no pennanent peace or 
])ermancnt hannony would be possible until the respective 
social systems of the North and South are rend»Ted homo- 
geneous by the extinction of the only difference between 
tht ni. \N'f mu>t go on lighting forever in this kind of 
de.-ultorv civil war; or el-e we mu.-t form coterminou.s 



10 THE POIJCY OF EMANCIPATION. 

states of diverse civilizations, which would fight no less 
perpetually ; or finally, looking the problem right in the 
heart of it, resolve to restore the Union on the only basis 
on which, after what has occurred, a restoration seems to 
be possible, namely, the establishment of free institutions 
and a free system of society in all the component parts. 



THE WAY OUT. 

TO THE HON. EDWIN M. STANTON, 

Secretary of War. 

My political antecedents are known to you. Always a 
democrat, but never a pro-slavery democrat ; opposed, in 
principle and feeling, from ni}^ youth up, to human slavery, 
but believing, until recently, that, in the interests of liberty 
itself, it was the part of wisdom in the North to abstain 
from interference with the danger-fraught domestic institu- 
tion of the South, and to trust to time for its eradication ; 
opposed, with a hereditary aversion, to war, I was willing, 
before the sword was drawn, to make any honorable con- 
cessions that might avert its horrors. 

But political convulsions bring with them great lessons 
and new duties. War would not, under the Divine econ- 
omy, have been permitted, as in all past ages it has been, 
if it had not its mission. But to attain the good it brings 
we must recognize its necessities. 

No civil war of proportions so gigantic as that now rag- 



LETTER TO TOE SECRETARY OF WAR. 1 I 

inir I'ver cxistrM] in the world before. It differj^ from all 
others, Ijuth iu the results sure to ensue from its protraction 
beyond a brief jieriod, and in the conditions under which, 
out of evil, it may eventuate in good. In calculating 
these, time is an essential element. 

Srvcn or right hundred millions are spent. At the best, 
as nuK'h more is likely to go. Two thousand millions or 
ujjward is not an imj»robabli' total. That is half the national 
(h'bt of England : and the interest on it (probably at almost 
doiililr thf rate she pays) will make our annual burden 
nearly e(|ual to hers. If tin' war last> three years longer, 
these figures may Ih' doubN'd. It nuist not last three 
years longiT. unles.s we are willing to risk national bank- 
ruptcy. 

How is it to be terminated? 

Hy conc<<sion y That is no longer in our j>ower. We 
can buy a tni<<-. a juiuse, by ooncessi«)n Ut the South; 
nothing iiion-. 

IJy forer of arm>. theny Hut if by foree.it must be 
(juiekiy dour. I)elay is defeat. 

.\nd it iiiu-t br elfiM'tually d<»ne. After one >ueh war 
tie- nalioM may revive, its energies still elastic; solvent 
still, and resprcte<|. A second will ruin it financially, to 
.-ay nothing of worse ruin. To save the country, then, tin- 
war must nttt terminate without a >u01cient jruarant\- 
again>t its resumi»tioii. 

How can the war be (piickly and effectually terminated:'' 
AVhat guaranty is sufficient, that it will not be resumed!'' 

(Jradually. vi-ry L^radually. as this eontest proc«M'drd. 
iia\e I be. Ml ;i p| >r< >ae|i jng the convietion that tlirn* i> Imf 



12 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

one such guaranty : the emancipation of negro slaves 
throughout this continent. Perhaps — but as to this I am 
less certain — that measure is the only sure means of ter- 
minating, quickly and effectually, this war. The recent 
reverse under General McClellan, the scattered rebel fires 
daily bursting forth in States which our forces had already 
overrun, the fact that we are fighting against brave men 
of our own race, all increase the probability that we must 
deprive the South of a legal right to its four millions of 
laborers, before we can succeed against their masters in a 
reasonable time and in an effectual manner. 

I am not an advocate of revolutionary short-cuts out of 
a diflBculty. I am not in favor of violating the Constitu- 
tion by way of escaping a danger. There might be imme- 
diate advantage, but the precedent is replete with peril. 

Could slavery have been abolished, by northern action, 
while peace yet existed between the North and South, 
without a violation of the Constitution ? in other words, 
without a revolutionary act? Clearly not. Can slavery 
be eradicated now, in war, without such violation ? If 
emancipation be necessary to insure the permanent peace 
and safety of our' government, and if we are willing to 
pay to all loyal slave-owners a reasonable price for their 
slaves, clearly yes. 

For no principle in law is better established than this, 
that when important public interests demand it, private 
property may be taken, at a fair appraisement, for public 
use. The opening of a street in improving a city, the 
running of a railroad, are held, in this and other civilized 
countries, to be objects of sufiicient importance to justify 



LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. lo 

wliat till- FrciH.-li law a-^Wn '' appro pi'iation for cce pour 
ause (Vutilile puhlique." 
But of importance how uncrly trivial is the oneiiiiig of 
a street or of a railroad eonipared to the preservation, in 
its integrity, of the greatest repnblie upon ♦•artli ! 

Ought we to declare g<'neral emancipation, coupled with 
a pnjvision for the payment, to all loyal slave-holders, of 
tiic fairly apj>raised value of their slaves/ This (juestion 
resolves itself into another: Have things gone s«» far that 
thr I'nion. in its peaceful integrity, and negro slavery 
within its borders, can no longer coexist y That is the 
(iKKAT guE.sTioN (JF THE 1>AY. I tliiuk it Hiust he auswenil, 
rvfi) now, ill the aflirnialive. Kvery nmntli that {lasiies is 
.tiiveitiiiL'' hundreds of thousatuis of moderate and con- 
• rvativt' and peace-loving men to the same opinion. They 
despair <d' sectional friendshij) i»r national peace, until the 
leeiiiihg «aii>e of mortal hatred and civil war is rooted out 
forcNtp. 

Jlave we the means ••! j.;i\iiig loyal slave-owners n fair 
price for their .slaves'/ If we act now, before a protracted 
contest has <'xliau>ted oiir resourecH, yes. If we wait the 
teiinination «»f a three or ft»ur years' war. very certainly, no. 
Ill that pric<' deportation must not ))e estimated. The 
South asserts that negro slaves are indispensahle to her. 
That is only so far true, that >he does absolutely need hind 
negro Workmen, ami <»iiglit not to !»»• dcpriveil of them. 
Her agriculture would, for a time, be ruined without tlu-m. 
IJiil no good man desiret, a settlement under which any 
-eriion of our country would be rvt-n leniporarilv ruined. 
Snv can it be doiibtrd that the South, however >»trong 



14 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

her prejudices and traditions in favor of owning her labor- 
ers, has herself been brought, by the perils of the hour, to 
think seriously of a change of system as the only means 
left her to obtain aid and comfort from Europe. Kor can 
all her leaders be wholly blind to the fact that such a 
change of system would advance, in the end, beyond cal- 
culation, her material prosperity. 

Suppose a declaration, to the effect that the government, 
urged by the necessity of self-preservation, takes, at a fair val- 
uation, the slave property of the South. Will such a declara- 
tion cause a negro insurrection and indiscriminate assassina- 
tion of whites throughout the slave States ? The result, so 
far, has clearly shown that the negro, mild and long-suffering, 
and often attached to his owmer, is little disposed to resist, 
under an organization of his own. Once assured of free- 
dom, he will gradually join our cause — that is all. He can 
then be hired as laborer or soldier, as may seem fit — pay- 
ment being made for him if his master proves to be loyal, 
and his services being confiscated if these are due to a rebel. 
In all this we are clearly in our right. 

Look now at the question in its foreign aspect, under the 
chances of European intervention. Be those chances great 
or small, intervention may occur, and that ere long. 

If it occur, its character will chiefly depend upon what 
shall have been the antecedent action of our government in 
regard to slaver}^ 

If, previously to such intervention, we shall have issued 
a general declaration of emancipation, then we shall stand 
before Europe as the champions of human liberty, while 



LETTER T<^ THE SKCRETAUY OF WAR. 15 

tnir euciiiii's will be iVL^ardt'il a.s the advocates of liuinau 
servitude. Pul)lie opinion in Eiiirland. in France, and 
tiir<iu«:liout Europe g-cnerally, will then prevent the re- 
8pective «rovernnient.s from intervening, except it be in our 
favijr. No European government dare place itself in the 
attitudi' of a .slavery prot«'<'t«jr. 

If, on the eontrary. we shall have left the issue as it now 
stands, our poliry indicalrd unly by the Confiscation act. 
not l)roadly and boldly ainioimeed. and more especially if 
the South, (jespairing of savin«r her favorite institution, eon - 
ce(les. as the pric»* of foreifrn reeo«rnition and support, a 
voluFitarv systmi of jrradual emaneipation — not at all an 
unlikfly niu\c — th«-M ih<' -ynipaihy of pultlie opjni.tn 
thr'»u;rh'iul EuntjM- will be with the South, and will sus- 
tain any action in hrr favor. 

Think, too, in sueh an evc-nt, how false our p«»sition ! h.»w 
low we shall havt- fallen in tlic eyes of the world I how un- 
enviable thf plart- \\r .<-hall oceu|»y in history thn»uirh all 



It is idl«' LM- lade to say. liiat thus situateij. w*- can 

iU\\ Km 1 • t tin- South, by eoncedin]ir eman<Mpation , 

secun- the sympathy and the perman<>iit services of h»r 
four millions of labon-rs, without aetion of ours; then 
throw into the seah- a^rainst us the thirty nnllion.-. of Enir- 
laiid, tin- forty million- of i*'rance, — and who .-^liall say how 
many tens of millions lu'sidrs? — an«l what chance feu* -ii< - 
(ess, (»r for reputation, .shall we have, stru^r^lin^r for n<»tliin«j' 
nobler than .self-existenc*', in etpiivoeal attitude before the 
World, matched ajrainst oj)ponents who shall have fore- 
stalled us and assumed the iuitiative^of i)ro|rressy 



16 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

While the contest assumes no higher character than that 
of a portion of a great nation desiring a separation from 
the mother country and forcibly casting off its autliority, 
what more sympathy can we expect from Europe than we 
ourselves gave to Spain when she lost Mexico, or to Mexico 
when Texas struck for independence ? Until the issue is 
changed, so that the great question of human liberty be- 
comes involved in it, we must expect from European powers 
at the best only indifference ; coupled, probably, with the 
feeling, that as Mexico succeeded against Spain, and Texas 
against Mexico, so will a Southern Confederacy finally 
maintain itself against us. 

That a declaration of emancipation was not issued a year 
ago, I do not regret. Great changes must mature in public 
opinion before they can be safely carried out. Extreme 
measures, to be justified and to be effectual, must often be 
preceded by long-tried conciliation. Yet in national emer- 
gencies it may be as dangerous to disappoint as to anticipate 
public opinion. And I confess my fears for the result if 
decisive measures are longer delayed. 

Stand where we are we cannot; and to go on is less 
dangerous than to retrace our steps. We ought never to 
have proposed emancipation with compensation to loyal 
slave-owners, nor declared to the disloyal, as by law we 
have, that their slaves shall be liberated without compensa- 
tion, if we did not intend to follow out the policy we com- 
menced. We have incurred the odium; let us reap the 
benefit. 

Nor do I perceive how we can free the slaves of rebels, 
yet reasonably expect to retain slavery in the border States, 



LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. 17 

vvvn in oa.-o tliov persist in refusing the oflfer of the Presi- 
dent. Having: intervened so far, extirpation of slavery, the 
only etfeetual jMjlicy, beeunies the safest also. 

All men in the North will not aequiesce. Neither did 
all acfiuiesce wh(?n the war was commenced ; yet who that 
is loyal oi)poses it now'/ And what would have been the 
r»'.-ult luul we waitrd, «-n' wr conunenced the war. for una- 
nimity ? 

Some will fall cfT. So he it. There is small loss in that. 
An<l tlifp' i.- >nnu- irn\i\. iicttcr an oimh rncmy llian a 
worthjt ss friend. It is tinw that nwii w«'rr takinjr sidt-s. 
As thinL'-- now stand I see im usr in ronciliatiiiLr tlu* half- 
loyal. 11«' who is not for us is against u- 

I think tilt' jMoplr an- r«ady. I hrjicvr tliat th<' loyal 
citizens of the North, witii sucji small proportion of «'.\c«'j)- 
tioiis as in radical national rhan«r«'s must he disn-iranlcd, 
an- to day j>rcj»ar«d for rmanripution. They have paid for 
it in trea-«ure, in blood; not by their option. TIm-v feel 
that the .saerilices tliey have made, and have ^\]\\ to make, 
are too vast ti» have been ineiirred. j'xeept in purchase of a 
great pledge of perpetual .»iafety ami peaci'. 

Kelieeting men feel, to(». that sucJi a pledge is a mitiomd, 
not merely a northern, nece.«^sity. Tin* South, exhausted 
and sulVering. needs it to the full as much as we. She 
will soon perceive, if she does not already, that two parts 
of one nation, or cvj-n two coterminous tuitions, can never 
again exist in annty on tli> i-ontinent, one slave and the 
other free. She caimot but see that fugitive slave law «lif- 
ficulties. if n<» others existed, wouM suflice to jirevent this. 

It is not the <|ue>ii<»n wh«Hier a jtajMr declaration, easily 



18 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

issued, will or will not be followed b}^ a thousand practical 
difficulties. The uprooting of an ancient and gigantic abuse 
always involves such. Nor should we be called upon to 
predict in advance (for who can entirel}^ foresee ?) how each 
of these will be ultimately solved. The true question is, 
whether greater difficulties, even insuperable ones, do not 
beset any other policy. Pressed home as we are, to avoid 
obstacles is impossible. We can but select the least for- 
midable. The lives of the best of us are spent in choosing 
between evils. 

When dangers sun'ound us we must walk, in a measure, 
by faith. Let us do what we can, and leave to God the 
issue. We may best trust to Him when we enter His path 
of progress. He aids those who walk in it. 

I feel assured that final success awaits us in pursuing 
such a path, and I see no other road out of the darkness. 

ROBERT DALE OWEN. 

New York, July 23, 1862. 



THE TWEXTV-TIIIKI) OF SEPTEMHER 



LKTTKK II 



TO Tin: IMM.SIDr.NT 



LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. 



KiUtorinl from the X>v Vurk Daily Tribine of October 
23. 1)^62. 

W'k i)Li)jli.-li ilii- iiiornin;: — liy rxi»rt'>> ix-rmissioii (.It- 
taiiK'd at WasliiriL'-ton — a Irttrr from Robkrt Dale Owk\. 
of IiKliana. t<» tin- rn-sidrnt of tli.- I'liitrd States. This 
eloquent and forcililf ai»]M al for a Prorlaiiiation of Kmaii- 
cijiatioii a> a war iiica-un' — -lire to nn'et witli \\u- approha- 
tioii of all loyal men, and to carry confusion into tlir canii) 
of tlir enemy — was recciveil l)y the I*resi<lent a few days 
befort' the rrodamatiun was i.-sued. Prei'is«-ly what influ- 
ence it nuiy have exercised on the anthor«if that Procla- 
mation We do not know, hut we do know, from private 
sources as well as fr.»m the fie(|uent allusions that have lieen 
maile to it hy the corresi)ondents of j)uhlic journals in 
Wa>hin>cton, that it was re^^arded l)y others of hi^h olVicial 
jiosition as a >uccinci and admirable statement (tf the whole 
(|Ue.-tion. Ixe^^ardinjr it as a valuable iilu.>«lralion (jf the 
history of the times, and all the more so that it conies from 
one who has lon;r been a distin«r>iished memlur (»f the 
democratic party, we ;rladly avail our.-clve> of the permis- 

(21) 



22 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

sion to publish it. Tliougli a month onh' has elapsed since 
it was written, events are already justifying the foresight 
that dictated it. 



THE TWENTY-THIRD OF SEPTEMBER. 

TO THE PBESIDENT 

OF THE United States. 

In da3^s when the public safety is imminently threatened, 
and the fate of a nation may hang upon a single act, we 
owe frank speech, above all other men, to him who is 
highest in authority. I shall speak to you as man to 
man. 

Harsh opinions have been formed of you; even honest 
men doubting the probity of your intentions. I do not 
share their doubts. I believe you to be upright, single- 
hearted in your desire to rescue the country in the hour of 
her utmost need without after-thought of the personal con- 
sequences to yourself. 

If, amid the multitude of contending counsel, you have 
hesitated and doubted ; if, when a great measure suggested 
itself, you have shrunk from the vast responsibility, afraid 
to go forward lest you should go wrong, what wonder ? 
How few, since the foundation of the world, have found 
themselves in a position environed with public perils so nu- 
merous, oppressed with responsibilities so high and solemn, 
as yourself! 

Xo man ever escaped from such — so reads the lesson of 
history — without a bold heart and a high faith. Wisdom , 



LETTER T(1 TUE PRESIDENT. 23 

pnuk'nco, furothouL^ht, tlKse are essential. But not second 
t<j tln'se Is that nolilc couraire whieli adventures the riglit, 
an<l leaves the eonsecjUiMiers to God. 

Men ever follow willingly a darinjj^ leader: most willingly 
of all, in great emergencies. Boldness and decision com- 
mand, often even in evil, the resj)ect and concunvnce of 
mankind. How much more in good! 

There is a measure needing courage to adopt and en- 
force it. wlii<h I believe to he of virtue sufficient to redeem 
the nation in this its darkest hour: one only; I know of no 
other to which we may rationally trust for relief from im- 
jiending dangers without and within. 

The dangers which threaten us are twofold: First, fmni 
the Confederate forces, cumpo-ed of men who.<e earnest 
convictions and reckless hrav«'ry it is idle to deny. St'condly, 
from ourselves, compelled t<» njake u.-e of a military jtower 
of proportions so gigantic that no na' [lermitted 

the existence of such without more «»r less risk to the pt-ople 
who <'mi)loyed it. If we think lightly of this latter danger, 
we slight the teachings of all past time. 

As to the lirst : Have you not had yuur moments of 
doulit whether we are to succeed at all!" — whether tiie 
riiinii. iiiice so gloritnis, will ever he reunited y — whether 
jHaee. which We used to enjoy with as little gratitmle 
as we do the suidight or the air we hreathe. will ever again 
settle dovN II over oiir distracted coimtry ^ 

If I have douhts nf all tin-, it is only hecause I «lo not 
know what your acti<tn will he. We have at our dis]»osal 
the means of certain success; hut I caimot tell whether, 

while there is Vet time, yotl will decide to ellljtloy them. 



24 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

Our enemies, like the Grecian hero, have one vulnerable 
point. You have not touched it yet. What should have 
been their element of weakness has been suffered to remain 
an element of strength. 

They have nearly a million of able-bodied men of fit age 
for war or for labor. Holding these men in bondage, and 
employing them to till the soil, they are enabled to send to 
the battle-field almost their entire white male adult popula- 
tion, yet preserve their commissariat sufficiently supphed. 

It has always been a great wrong that these men and 
their families should be held in bondage. We of the Xorth 
have hitherto acquiesced in it, lest, in^ the endeavor to re- 
dress it in violation of the Constitution, greater evils might 
ensue. 

But the time has come when it is constitutional to re- 
dress it. The rebellion has made it so. Property in man, 
always morally unjust, has become nationally dangerous. 
Property that endangers the safety of a nation should not 
be suff'ered to remain in the hands of its citizens. A chief 
magistrate Avho permits it so to remain becomes responsible 
for the consequences. For he has the right, under the law 
and the Constitution, to take private property, with just 
compensation offered, for public use, whenever it is appar- 
ent that any public exigency demands such appropriation. 

Forgive what may seem curt speech if I say that, in my 
judgment, a President with a just sense of duty has no 
option in such a case. 

In the due exercise of your official power, in strictest 
accordance with law and the Constitution, you can deprive 
the enemy of that which, above all else, has given, and 



LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. 2d 

Still ^ivrs liiiii, aid and comfort. You can declare eman- 
cipated lii.s .slaves, the su)H)liers of his commissariat. 
Gradually, you can dei>rive him of these ; and for every 
hundn-d thousand i)roductive laborers he loses, you may 
have a hundred thousand soldiers. With their aid you 
can reach the rest. What then remains for him '{ He 
mu.-t thin his ranks to cultivate his ])lantations. lie must 
lahor f<jr his own food, or must perish for the lack of it. 

The people ai'e forbidden to ^ive aid and eonifort to 
reliel.-. What of a pjvernment that has the power to cut 
off from aid and comfort all the rebels of the South and 
fails to exerci.se it '/ 

\Ve ou^'ht to do that whieh is ri^dit. i-veii if the reeom- 
pen.se be distant and uncertain; but we add folly to injus- 
tiee if we nejrlect a ^reat a<-t of beneficeui-e that is to be 
rewarded, even now. by our own preservation. 

Vei a^'-ain. Can you hx.k forward to the futun* of our 
country and ima^in** any state of things in which, with 
slavery still e.xi.stinjr, we >hould be assured of permanent 
peaces I cannot. We can constitutionally extirpate 
slavery at this time. Hut if we fail to do this. then, un- 
|e>> we intend hereafter to violate the Constitution, we 
>hall have a fu^ritive >lave law in operation whenever the 
war is over. Shall the North have .-acrificed a himdred 
thousand li\ es and t wo !h.»u>an<l million-^ of treasure to come 
to that Ml la>l y N(»t even a L^iaranty of peace purchased 
at >o enormous a cost ^ After voluntary exertions on the 
part of our peojile to which the hist(»ry of the world fur- 

ni>hes no parallel. i> i| Id root of bitterne.-s .-till to w- 

:i 



26 THE POLICY OF E3IANCIPATI0N. 

main in the ground, to sprout and bear fruit in the future 
as it has borne fruit in the past ? 

The questions are addressed to you. For upon you and 
upon your action more than upon any other one thing does 
the answer depend. You have, at this time, more power 
than any constitutional monarch in the world. The English 
government always acts according to the policy approved 
by the constitutional advisers of the Crown. You Avould 
violate usage only if you should act without the advice, or 
even contrary to the opinions, of your constitutional ad- 
visers. I do not mean that you could continue to do this 
with propriety or even with safety ; I merely assert that 
the power is, in point of fact, in your hands. And for such 

a power, what a responsibility to God and man ! 

* 
It is within your power at this very moment not only to 

consummate an act of enlightened statesmanship, but, as 

the instrument of the Almighty, to restore to freedom a 

race of men. If you are tempted by an imperishable 

name it is within your reach. We may look through 

ancient and modern history, yet scarce find a sovereign to 

whom God offered the privilege of bestowing on humanity 

a boon so vast. 

Such an olfer comes to no human being twice. It is 
made to you to-day. How long it will remain open — 
wiiether in three months or in one month from now it will 
still be at your option to accept it — God, who reads the 
hearts of men, alone knows. 

And this brings me to speak of another class of dangers 
— those which may arise here in the Xorth, among our- 
selves. 



LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. 27 

Di) you read tlie daily newspaper press, that wonderful 
and instructive modern index of the passing opinions of 
the times t If so, have you not recently seen there signs 
that startled you t — advice, audaciously given in certain 
(piarters, tiiat it is time the army should take the power 
into its own hands and demand the dismissal from your 
<al)inet of tlu^ best men in it ? Have you no facts in your 
r»wn ex|)<'rience going to prove that such audacity has not 
sliuwM its hfiid without )»ower and numl)ers that rendrr it 
formidahlf y I do not fear it; not now, if it is strangled 
at its hirtli. IJiit lie tempts Providenee who suflV'rs that 
spirit of anarchy t<j grow and gather strength before strik- 
ing a blow for its destrueiion. 

^'ou eannot be ignorant of the design of these men. lie 
that runs may read it, TIh-v see that we are (h'ifting 
toward emancipation. They set* that the deman«l U'inw 
tlie masses of our people for thi- great measure is l)eeom- 
ing. day liy day. more importunate. Tliey know that a 
majority of your cabinet favor it. They feel assured, as 
to yourself, that if the option n-main with you. it is but a 
(ju<sti«in of time and of jorm when and how a jiroelama- 
tion of emamijialion will be i.>isued. 'I'hey pereeive but 
one p«»w«'r that has any cliance succes.-fully to arrest this 
stream and eoen*e y<mr aetion. Op«'nly tlu-y appeal to it. 
Opthlytliey «ieelar<- that eabinet mini.-ters nm-t be im- 
posed upon yoti by military dictatit)n. No other course is 
left them t(» cOecl their great object, namely, to perpetuate 
among us that slavery wiii<h tlu' nation, with a determina- 
tion wliich increases from day to day, is resolved to uju-ooi. 

One blow may be dealt by you against these men that 



28 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

will crush forever their treasonable cabals. It is the same 
that lays the foundation of peace, and assures, beyond 
possible peradventure, the doT\Tifall of the rebellion. They 
know their danger. They read emancipation in all the 
signs of the times. It is to them the handwriting on the 
wall, foreshadowing their political fate. What wonder 
that they resort to desperate means to arrest its advent ? 

Shall they be allowed time, by insidious argument, to 
entice the unwary into the ranks of sedition ? By prompt 
action alone can you prevent it. It is idle to await una- 
nimity. Men acquiesce in a thousand things, once right- 
eously and boldly done, to which, if proposed to them in 
advance, they might find endless objections. 

Do you hesitate ? Will you delay the blow ? See to it, 
that when at last your resolution is taken, the power may 
not already have passed away from your hands. 

The twenty-third of September approaches — the date 
when the sixty-day notice you have given to the rebels 
will expire — expire without other reply to your warning 
than the invasion of Maryland and a menace to Pennsyl- 
vania. Is it to rest there ? Patiently we have waited the 
time. Is nothing to follow? Are our enemies to boast 
that we speak brave words — and there an end of it ? 

What a day, if you but will it, may that twenty-third of 
September become ! The very turning point in the nation's 
fate ! A day to the rebels of despair, to every loyal heart 
of exultant rejoicing ! A day of which the anniversary 
will be celebrated with jubilee while the American Union 
endures ! A day to be remembered not in our land alone, 



LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT 29 

))iit wherever Inimanity mourns over the ^vronirs of the 
slave, or rejoices in his liberation ! 

You are the first President to whom the opporiunity was 
ever oH'ert-d constitutionally to inaugurate such a day. If 
you fail us now, you may be the last. Lift then the weight 
from the h«art <>f this iMoplc. Let them breathe free once 
more. Extirpate the bli^ditin^r curse, a living threat through- 
out long years i)ast, that has smitten at last with desola- 
tion a land to which Ci"d had granted everything but wis- 
dom and justice. Ciive back to the nation its hope and 
faith in a future of peace and undisturl)ed prosperity. 
KiilJiU — y(,u can far mon- than fulfdl — the brightest antici- 
jiations of tlioM- who, in thr name of human freedom, 
and in thr face of thn-ats that have ripened into terrible 
realitirs sincr, fought that l>attlc which ]>laccd you where 
you now stand. 

i;()i;i;Kr pali-: owkx. 

Nkw v.. UK, Sept. 17, \xiV2. 

[This ktt»"r was pla(<d in the hand.-> of the President 
on Friday, September P.«.] 



roxDTTToxs or t.asttxo vvxn^ 



m:t'ii:i; hi 



TO Till ^1 ( i;i,j\in oj- Tin: TKr.VSl KV. 



LKTTEK TO THE SECRKTARY OF THE 
TREASURY. 



Editorial from the Xew York EvEXi.vr, Post of Xovember 
22, lbG2. 

THE COST OF PEACE. 

W'k iMili]i.-li clsfwlicrc a discussion of xhv aspects and 
dutirs of tli<' tinu's. )>y one of our most distinpruished 
statfsiiicii and politicians. Kobkrt I>ai.k Owkn. I'nlike 
sonic oiImt dtni'M-rat-.. Mr. OwcMi does not deceive liinisclf 
as to tin- natun- of tin- civil war in which wc are engaged, 
lie takes no narrow or ])artisan view of the motives under 
which it should he conduct<'d. He desires no end of it 
whicli >hall not he enduring in its results. 

.Mil. Owen discerns, what many had long since discerned 
lu'fore. and many more arc iu>t hcginning to di.-cern. that 
the <-ontinued existence t»f two orders of society, .so dilVerent 
as tho.^i' of the free and slave States, is incom])atihle with 
the peace of the continent. Whether in the Union or out 
of it. slavery can only])rove a cause of perpetual irritation 
and conflict, and a suspension of hostilities or truce of any 
kiml a mere ]>ost])onement of a more dreadful outl>reak. 
Kmancipation is at once the surest m«'ans of suppressing 
the rel>ciii(»n as an armed resistance, and of harmonizing 
the sections as hodies itolilic. 

( :i3 ) 



34 TEIE POLICY UF EMANCIPATION. 

His statements are clear, liis arguments cogent, liis mo- 
tives patriotic, and we ask for his presentation of the case 
the cahii, unprejudiced consideration of men of all parties, 
and particularly of that democratic party to which the 
writer has all his life adhered. 



CONDITIONS OF LASTING PEACE. 

TO THE HOX. SALMON P. CHASE, 

Secretary of the Treasury. 

Sir : In briefest terms I state the propositions which, as 
the subject of our recent conversation, I promised to re- 
duce to writing. 

What are the reasonable hopes of peace ? 

Not, that within the next fifty days the South, availing 
herself of the term of grace offered in the President's proc- 
lamation, may, to save her favorite institution, return to 
her allegiance. Let us not deceive ourselves. There are 
no conditions, no guarantees — no, not if we proffer a 
blank-sheet on which to set them down, with unrestricted 
pen, in her own hand — under which she will consent to re- 
union, except in one contingency — conquest, more or less 
complete, by force of arms. 

Are we likely to obtain peace by conquest ? 

In search of an answer, let us look closely at a few sta- 
tistical facts. 

By the census of 1860, the number of white males be- 
tween the ages of 18 and 45 is, in the loyal States, about 
four milHons ; and in the disloyal States, about one million 



l.KTrEK TO THE i^ECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 35 

tliroL' liundnMl thou.sand; a little upward? of three to one. 
The disijniportion seems overwhelmingly great. 

But this caleulation, as a basis' of military strength, is 
wholly fallacious; for it includes persons of one color only. 

Out of the above four millions the North has to provide 
holdicrs and (with inconsiderable exceptions, not usually 
extending t«) firld lal)<»r) laborers also. 

Hut of thr thn'c millions and a half of slaves owned in 
tlir rcbi'l Stati'S, about two niilli<»ns may be estimated as 
labonrs. Allow three hundred llnjusand of these as em- 
ploytcl in domestic .services and otlier occupations followed 
by women among us, and we have seventeen hundred thou- 
sand plantation hands, male and female, each one <if whicii 
<-«jtjnts again.st a northern laborer on farm or in work-shop. 

Then, of that jxtrtion of jiopulation whence >oldiers and 
out-door laboHTs and mechaniis mu.-it chiejiy be taken, the 
Nortliern Siate> June four millions and the Sontliern Slates 
three millions. 

Supposing th. .. .. - all loyiil to their masters, it fol- 
lows that the true pn)portion of strength available in this 
war — that is, of soldiers to light and laborers to support 
the nation while lighting — may fairly enmigh be takt-n at 
three in the South to four in the North. 

I'nder this stipposilion of a South united, w ithout regard 
to eitliir, ill an •iVnil for reeognition. -hail we obtain peace 
by .subduing her!' If history teach truth, we shall nut. 
Never, sinee the worM began, did nine millions of people 
itaml t..g(ther. resolutely inspired by the one idea of aehiev- 
iiiiT their iiidept-ndenee. yet fail to obtain it. It is not a eeii- 
lurv since one-third of the nunib(r suec«'s.sfull\- defied (Jreai 
Ib-itain 



36 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

But let us suppose the negroes of the South loyal to the 
Union mstead of to their masters, how stands the matter 
then ? 

In that case, it is not to a united people, but to a confed- 
eracy divided against itself, that we are opposed ; the mas- 
ters on one side ; the laborers, exceeding them in number, 
on the other. 

Suppose the services of these laborers transferred to us, 
what will then be the proportion, on either side, of forces 
available, directl}^ and indirectly, for military purposes ? 

As about five and three-fourths to one and a third : in 
other words, nearly as nine to two. 

Such a wholesale transfer is, of course, impossible in 
practice. But in so far as the transfer is possible, and shall 
occur, we approach the above results. 

How much wisdom, under these circumstances, is there 
in the advice that we should put down the rebellion first and 
settle the negro question afterward ? What shall we say 
of their statesmanship, who, in a war like this, would leave 
out of view the practical effects of emancipation ? 

On the other hand, however, it is to be admitted that 
African loyalty in this war will little avail us, if we have 
not good sense and good feeling enough properly to govern 
the negroes who may enter our lines. 

To render their aid available : in the first place we must 
treat them humanely, a duty we have yet to learn ; and 
secondly, both for their sakes and for our own, we must not 
support them in idleness. Doubtless, they are most effi- 
cient as laborers, as domestics in camp, as teamsters, or 
employed on intrenchments and fortifications, or in ambu- 
lance corps, or as sappers and miners ; or, as fast as south- 



LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 37 

iTii plantations shall fall into our possession, as field-hands. 
Jiut if all these posts become over-tilled, better do away 
with the necessity fur further draft in the Xorth by putting 
muskets in the hands of able-bodied men, colored differently 
from ourselves, than to delude their ignorance into the 
opinion that among the privileges of freedom is food with- 
out work. 

Have we i)hilanthropy and discretion enough wisely to 
administer such a rhange of system? Possibly not. Ad- 
mini.-trativr caijacity in pulilic affairs is not our strong 
point. Wv would do well to Ix-ar in mind, however, that 
without such i-apacity not this war only, but our entire gov- 
crmiitiital experiment, will prove a failure at last. 

Do <jther objections hold against tlie plan? Does hu- 
manity forltid us to accept the aid of an enslaved race? In 
so far as humanity can ever enjoin war at all, she ciijoins 
tJje emjiloyment, by us, of the African in this: lirst, liecause 
his em|)loyment may shorten, l)y years, the fratricidal 
struggle; and then, because, if he is not |)ermitte(l to assist 
in civilized warfare under us, and if. without his aid. we 
fail to effect his liJM'ration and thus disajipoint his ho[)es, 
he may be overtaki'ii In' the temptati«»n to seek freedom and 
revenge in his own wiM way. Jn accepting the liljcrated 
slave tts a sol(ii«'r we may jirevent his rising as an a.ssassin. 
\\\ the creation (»f negn) brigades \\r may a\rrt the indis- 
criminate massacres of serviJ*- insurrection. 

Or is there an insuperable dillicully of caste in the way ^ 
In a contest likely to eventuate in securing to another race 
than ours the greatest of temporal blessings, are we deter- 
mineil to >hut out that race from all share in its own liln-r- 

4 



38 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

ation ? Are we so enamored of tlie Moloch, War, that we 
will suffer none but our sons to pass through the fire? 
Terriljle penalt}^ to pay, with life and death at stake, for a 
national prejudice against the Southern Pariah ! 

As to the duty of our rulers in the premises, I cannot 
see according to what principle of ethics a government, 
charged with the lives of millions, the putting down of a 
gigantic rebellion, and the restoring of tranquillity to the 
land, has the right, in the hour of its utmost need, to scorn 
a vast element of strength placed within its reach and at 
its disposal ; nor why, if it refuses to avail itself of such an 
element, it should not be held responsible for the lives it 
sacrifices and the hopes it blights. 

But we need emancipation far less for the material aid it 
aff'ords — great, even indispensable, though it be — than be- 
cause of other paramount considerations. 

We have tried the experiment of a federal Union, with 
a free-labor system in one portion of it and a slave s>'stem 
in another, for eighty years; and no one familiar with our 
affairs for a quarter of a century past is ignorant that the 
result has been an increase — embittered year by year in 
ever-accelerated ratio — of dissensions, of sectional jealous- 
ies, of national heart-burnings. When, eighteen months 
since, these culminated in war, it was but the issue which 
our ablest statesmen, looking sorrowfully into the future, 
had long since foretold. But if, while j^et at peace and with 
all the influence of revolutionary reminiscences pleading 
the cause of Union, this diversity of labor systems, pro- 
ducing variance of character and alienation of feeling, 
proved stronger to divide than all past memories and pres- 



LETTER TU THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 39 

eiit interests to unite, what chance is there that its baneful 
power for evil should cease, now, when to thoughts of 
fancied injuries in other years are added the recollections of 
the terrible realities enacted on a hundred bloody battle- 
fjj'lds from which the smoke has scarcely passed away ? 

X<ine — the remotest I 

A suspension of hostilities we can ])urchase : a few 
3'ears' respite, probably, in which to n-turn to our money- 
gettin^r, bi'fore the storm l>ursts forth anew with gathered 
fore*' ; but if we lo«>k beyond selfishness and the present ; 
if our cliildnn an- in our tlioughts; if we are sulVering and 
• xpendiiig now, tliat tliey, in a land of iu*osi)erity. may 
live and die in peace, thm must we act so that tin- result 
shall endure. We must not be content to j)Ut oil" the evil 
day. The root of the evil — the pre;riianl cause of the war 
— that must be eradicated. 

Report has it that a western politician recently pro- 
po.«ied, us the best solution of our dillietilties, the recogni- 
tion of slavery in all the Stales. Such an idea has a basis 
of tnitli: namely, that a state of war is. among us, the 
liect'ssary result of conllicting labor systems. Sucii an 
idea might even lie carrierl out and lead to ])eacc, but for 
that progressive spirit of Christian civilization wiiidi wc 
dare not openly outrage. h'lW imperfectly soever we obey 
it- humane behests. 

'I'here are a ilmusand rea.-.i, — j. ...:,, iphicjil, commer- 
'iai. political, international — why we should not consent 
t'> a separation into two confederacies: it is a c(»ntingency 
not to be thought of or I'Utertained ; but if we look 
inertly lo (he coihIUuhxs of lastinj peace, the chance of 



40 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

maintaining it would be far better if the independence of 
the South were to be recognized with her negroes eman- 
cipated, than if she were to return to her allegiance, re- 
taining her slave system. 

For in the former case, the cause of dissension being 
uprooted, the tendency would be to reunite, and a few 
years might see us a single nation again ; while, in the 
latter, a constantly active source of irritation still existing, 
three years of breathing time would not elapse without 
bringing endless quarrels and a second rebellion. 

Conceive reunion, with slavery still in existence. Imagine 
southern sympathizers in power among us offering com- 
promises. Suppose the South, exhausted Avith military 
reverses and desiring a few years' armistice to recruit, 
decides to accept it under the guise of peace and recon- 
struction? What next? Thousands of slaves, their ex- 
cited hopes of emancipation crushed, fleeing across the 
border. A fugitive slave law, revived by peace, demand- 
ing their rendition. Popular opinion in the Xorth opposed 
to the law, and refusing the demand. Renewed war the 
certain consequence. 

Or take even the alternative of recognition — recognition 
of an independent confederacy, still slave-holding. Are 
we, then — becoming the sole exception among the nations 
of the earth — to make ourselves aiders and abettors of the 
slave system of a foreign nation, by agreeing to return to 
her negro refugees seeking liberty and an asylum among 
us ? National self-respect imperatively forbids this. Pub- 
lic sentiment would compel the rejection, as a base humi- 
liation, of any proposed treaty stipulation, providing for 



LLTTEFt In THE SKCItKTAUY OF THE TREASURY. 41 

rendition of runaway slaves. Yet the South would re- 
jrard sueh rejection in no other light than as a standing 
menace — a threat to deprive her of what she regards as 
her most valuable property. Coterminous as for hundreds 
— possibly thousands — of miles uur boundaries would be, 
Ui\i>i not the South, in common i)rudence, maintain all 
iiiong that endle.ss Ijorder liiM' an armed slave police? Are 
we to con.sent to this'/ AimI if we do >hall we escape 
bdrder raids aft«'r fleeing fugitives'/ No sane man will 
• xpcct it. Are we to suffer these? We are disgraced. 
Aic \\4' to resent them'/ It is a renewal of Imstilities. 

If elections may go as they will. Their results can 
iirver change the fact tliat any i)arty obtaining the control 
of the govmiment and atlopting the policy that the set- 
ilmirnt of the enjan«-ipalion question is to be postponed 
liil the war shall he closed, will never, while ii pursues 
i!i:it policy. >. .• thi> war permanently cIose<l — not iven by 
accepting a shameful ili>ruption of our country. 

iJul if emancipation is to avail us as a j>eace measure, 
we must adopt it lioldly, resohitc'ly, elfectuallv. li must 
be general, not partial; extending not to the slaves of 
rebels only, but to every slave on this continent. Kveii 
if it wer«' practicable, which it is not, with slavery iion- 
e.\i>tent in the N(.i-ili< ni States and jiboli>hed in those 
which jiersl-t in rebellion, to maintain it in the narrow 
l>order-.«'trip, it is preci>ely tlu-re where negro fugitives can 
llie most readily escape, that its maintenance would the 
most certainly lead to war. 

Can this gn-at peace measure l)e constitutionally <'n- 
acle.l '/ 

4* 



42 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

A proclamation or (the more appropriate form) an act 
of General Emancipation, should, in its preamble, set 
forth in substance, that the claims to service or labor of 
which it deprives certain persons having been proved by 
recent events to be of a character endangering the suprem- 
acy of the law, jeo})ardizing the integrity of the Union, 
and incompatible with the permanent peace of the coun- 
try, are taken by the government, with just compensation 
made. Under circumstances far less urgent than these, 
the law or custom of civilized nations, based on consider- 
ations of public utility, authorizes such taking of private 
property for public use. We ourselves are familiar with 
its operation. When a conflagration in a city threatens 
to spread far, houses in the line of its progress may legally 
be seized and destroyed by the authorities in order to 
arrest it; and the owners are not held to have been 
wronged if they are paid for such losses under an equitable 
appraisement. But it is not the existence of part of a 
city that is now endangered ; it is the integrity of one 
among the first powers of the world that is menaced with 
destruction. 

The truth of the preamble suggested has become, in my 
judgment, incontrovertible. It will receive the assent of 
an overwhelming majority of the people of the loyal States. 
The public sentiment of Europe will admit its truth. 

Let us confess that such a preamble, as preface to act 
or proclamation, could not have commanded the assent of 
more than a small fraction of our people, only two short 
years ago — two years, as we reckon time ; a generation, 
if we calculate by the stirring events and far-reaching 



LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 43 

Upheavals that liave Ijoen crowded into the eventful 
uionlli.s. In .such days as these abuses ripen rapidly. 
Their consequences mature. Their ultimate tendencies 
hecome ai)parent. We are reminded of their transitory 
character. We are reminded that ahhough f<.)r the time, 
and in a certain stajrc of liunian projrnss, some abuses 
may liave their temporary u.<e, and for this, under God's 
economy, may have been suffered to continue; yet all 
abu.ses liave but a limited life. The right only is eternal. 

The rebellion, t<acher and creator as well as scourge 
and destroyer, by sternly laying bare the imminent dan- 
gers of slavery, lias created the constitutionality of eman- 
cipation. It has doui- niori'. It ha> made ennmcipation 
a bouiidcM ji(»litical duty, as well as a strictly constitutional 
right. 

Can we. in declaring emanciitation, legally avoid the 
payment, say of two Inindred millions, in the shaite of 
c()mpen.>-atiou to loyal slavc-holdiTs '/ 

Not if a slave-holder's right to service and labor from 
hi.s slaves, when not forfeite<l by treason, is legal. On 
humanitarian grounds the legality of that right has been 
denie(l. lint a construction of the C<jnstitution adverse to 
such tlcnial, and accpiiesced in by the nation throughout 
more than two generations, is held by most men to be rea- 
s(tn sufficient why the riulit in (piestion .-liouM be regarded 
a.s private j)roperty. If it be private property, then, ex- 
cept l>y violating the fifth article uf the amendments to the 
Constitution, it cannot be taken for piiblic use without just 
compensati(»n To violate any article of the Constitution 
is a revolutionary act; but such acts cost a nation more 
than M few hundred niil1'"t!- "<^ d.-ll:ii- 



44 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

The risk that a future decision of the Supreme Court 
might declare emancipation without compensation to be 
unconstitutional is, of itself, sufficient justification of the 
President's policy, corresponding to the above suggestions 
in this matter. 

Such compensation will be unpopular with many. Wise 
and just acts, when they involve sacrifices, frequently are. 
A wrong long tolerated commonly entails a penalty, which 
is seldom cheerfully paid. Yet, even on other grounds, 
we ought not, in this case, to begrudge the money. Who 
deserve better of their country than those brave men who, 
in the border and other slave States, have clung to their 
loj^alty through all the dark hours of peril even to life ? 

Precautions naturally suggest themselves against false 
pretences of loyalty. It seems expedient that he who 
shall have proved that he is the legal owner of certain 
slaves, and also that he has ever been loyal to the Union, 
should receive a certificate of indebtedness by the govern- 
ment, not transferable, to be paid at some fixed time sub- 
sequent to the termination of the war: payment being 
made contingent on the fact that the claimant shall not, 
meanwhile, have lapsed fi'om his loyalty. 

Every such claimant, once recognized, would feel him- 
self to be, b}^ his own act, the citizen of a free State ; one 
of us, detached forever from the Southern league. A 
government stockholder, he would become pecuniarily in- 
terested in the support of the government and the restora- 
tion of peace. 

The legislatures of the border States may not initiate 
such a policy, but the loyal men of these States will ac- 
cept it. 

L&fC. 



LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 45 

Such a measure does not involve expense in conveying 
the liherated negro tu other eoimtries. It has hitherto, 
indeed, been the usual policy in slave States to discourage 
as dangerous, the residence there of free blacks; and 
Innce an idea tiiat colonization should be the concomitant 
of emancipation. Of general emancipation, there is no 
need whatever that it should be. Those who take up such 
an idea forget that the jealousy with which slave-holders 
regard the presence of free negroes springs out of the 
dread that thes*,* may infect with a desire for freedom the 
slaves around them, thus rendering them insubordinate. 
IJut when all are free then- will be no slaves to incite, 
n(jr any ciiain.- to be brok«'n by n>ort t<) insurrection. 

It is no business of our.- either to (h-cide. for the liberated 
negro, where he siiall dwell, or to furnish his traveling ex- 
]>eii>( s. Freemen, black or white. >hould select their own 
dwelling-place and pay their own way. 

As to the fears of competition in labor sought to be 
excited in the miinls of the Northern workingman. they 
have foundation only in ca.M* emancipation be refu.'^ed ; for 
su<h refusal wnwid ilootl the North with fugitives. If, on 
the contrary, emancipation be carried tnit, the strong local 
attachments of the negro will indiiee hini. with rarest ex- 
ceptions, to renutin as a hire«l labor* r when- he worked as 
a .-la\e. 'I'hus humane masters will not lack suHicient 
working hands, of which coh.nization would de}»rive them. 
.Vnd if. notwith.«^tanding the i»rubal)le rise of Southern 
-taplcs, profits, at first, should be less, the 'security of the 
planter will be greater. He will no longer lie down at 
night uncertain whether the morning's news may luA be 

that \\\< -lave< Imi\,. ri^.n :iL'-:iin--t IiIlU, 



4() THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. 

This is tile paper view of the question. But all edicts, 
all proclamations, how wise and righteous soever, are but 
idle announcements now, if we lack courage and conduct 
to enforce them. 

Courage we have. Raw levies have behaved like 
veterans. The skeletons of regiments, reduced to one- 
tenth their original number, attest the desperate valor 
with which they confronted death. Not with the rank 
and file is the blame ! The leading ! There has been the 
secret of failure. 

With all the advantages of a just cause over our 
enemies, we have suffered them to outdo us in earnest- 
ness. We lack the enthusiasm which made irresistible the 
charge of Cromwell's Ironsides. We need the invincible 
impulse of a sentiment. We want, above all, leaders who 
know and feel what they arc fighting for. This is a war 
in which mercenaries avail not. There must be a higher 
motive than the pay of a Swiss — a holier duty urging on, 
than the professional pride, or the blind obedience, of a sol- 
dier. By parliamentary usage a proposed measure is en- 
trusted, for fostering care, to its friends. So should this 
war be. Its conduct should be confided to men whose 
hearts and souls are in it. 

Again. It has long been one of our national sins that 
we pass by, with scarcely a rebuke, the gravest public 
offences. We utterly fail in holding to a strict account- 
ability our public men. The result of such failure, in 
peace, had almost escaped our notice. In war we have 
now beheld its effects, flagrant and terrible. 

It was not to be expected that among so many thou- 



LETfEK TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 47 

-amis <»f officers suddenly appointed there should not be 
some hundreds of incompetents. Such thinsrs must he. 
Xo one is to blame if, in field or garden, weeds spring up. 
'IMie >ihim(' rests with him who leaves them there, to choke 
ilic (Top and rnmbt-r tlic ground. 

Accountability — that should be the watchward — ac- 
( (U'NTAHiLiTY, Stem, Unrelenting I Office has its emolu- 
ment.-; let it have its responsibiHties also. Let nsdemaufl, 
as Napoie(»n demanded, sueeess from mir leadi-rs. The 
inle mav work iiar-ilily. \\'ar needs harsh rules. Actions 
are not to be m«a>ured in war by the standard of i)eaee. 
The sentinel, worn by extreme fatii^ue, who sleej)s at his 
post. in<-iir- tin- penally of <l»alh. Th.re is meny in 
• ourts-marlial — drum-head eourt>-martial. A dozen offi- 
eers >hot. whenever the gravity of the ollence demands it. 
mav l»e the saving of life to tens of thousands of brave 
men. 

Kighteen months have passed. Eight hundred millions 
have l)eeii -pent. We lia\»' a million of armed men in the 
field. More than a hundred thousand rest in soldiers' 
wr;i\.^ And for all thi>. what residl "/ Is it strange if 
sometimes the lieart sinks and resoluti(»n fails at the 
thotight that, from sheer administrative iidirmity, th<' vast 
.-aerifiee mav have been all in vain f 

ibit l.t thr Past go! It> fatal faults (dinieult perliajis, 
to avoid. undiT an effort so sudden and so vast) can nevi.-r 
he recalled. houbtiess tliey had their use. It needed the 
grievous ineai)aeity we have witnesseil. the stinging re- 
verses we have suffered, the invasion even of free States 
we have lived to see commenced ; it needed the heca- 



48 THE POLICY OF EMANCIPATION. /D 

tombs of dead piled up unavailingly on battle-field after ^ 
battle-field — the desolate hearths, the broken-hearted sur- 
vivors — it needed all this to pave the way for that eman- 
cipation which is the only harbinger of peace. 

The Future ! that is still ours to improve. Xor, if some 
clouds yet rest upon it, is it without bright promise. Signs 
of nascent activity, energy, and a resolution to hold ac- 
countable for the issue the leaders of our armies, are daily 
apparent. Better than all, the initiative in a true line of 
policy has been taken. The twenty-third of September 
has had its eifect. The path of safety is before us ; steep 
and rugged, indeed, but no longer doubtful nor obscure. A 
lamp has been lit to guide our steps ; a lani}) that may 
burn more brightly before a new year dawns upon us. 
The noble prayer of Ajax has been vouchsafed in our case. 
At last we have light to fight by. 

We shall reach a quiet haven if we but follow faithfully 
and perseveringly that guiding light. 

There is, at this moment, in the hearts of all good men 
throughout the length and breadth of the land, no deeper 
feeling, no more earnest longing, than for peace ; peace 
not for the day, not to last for a few years ; but peace on 
a foundation of rock, for ourselves and for our children 
after us. May the hearts of our rulers be opened to the 
conviction that they can purchase only a shambling coun- 
terfeit except at one cost ! God give them to see, ere it 
be too late, that the price of enduring peace is general 

EMANCIPATION ! 

I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

ROBERT DALE OWEX. 

Nkw Yobk, Novemher 10, 1802. 

LEAg'l2 



